Hiking Mt. Timpanogos

Over the weekend we hiked Mt. Timpanogos. It may not have been the wisest decision I ever made. I gave blood the day before. I wanted to give blood the day before, because blood is in short supply right now, and the Red Cross are doing covid-19 antibody tests on all blood donations. I have considered getting an antibody test for a little while, and this was a good way to do it and help others. I would not, however, recommend giving blood the day before a grueling hike. I went ahead with the hike because I was paranoid that if I didn't hike Timp this weekend it wouldn't happen this year. Summer is going by so quickly and there aren't too many good weekends left before the weather will make hiking Timp more challenging. I set a goal last year to hike Timp and we waited until late August or early September to plan the hike. The weekend we wanted to hike Timp there was a big storm and we had to cancel. Then after that the weather did not cooperate. When I was setting my goals for 2020, I repeated this goal. Because of covid-19 I won't be able to achieve many of the goals I set, but this was one I could still accomplish. 

Update: My antibody test was negative. It is likely I have not been exposed to Covid-19, which is in line with my expectation. 

We woke up early and at a big breakfast before heading to the trail head. We gave a Dan a ride to the trail head as well. Dan and Mike (one of Alison's coworkers) hiked with us. We met at the Aspen Grove trail head at 6 am. We started early to try to avoid some of the heat. We chose the Aspen Grove trail because it is a little more scenic. The downside is it is also longer than the timpooneke trail. The Aspen Grove trail is beautiful. It climbs through a series of switchbacks, passing waterfalls and streams. It provides amazing views of the Sundance and the Aspen Grove recreation area down below. As we climbed we watched the sunrise. The trail is really well defined up until you reach Emerald Lake. This area was the highlight of the hike. All around Emerald lake were fields of the most stunning wildflowers. It was incredible. 

By this point in the hike I wasn't doing so well. I was regretting my decision to give blood, and wondering if I would make it to the top. To get to the summit on the Aspen Grove trail it is about 7.7 miles and 4,400 feet of elevation gain. From Emerald lake to the top there are about 2 miles to go. Shortly after Emerald lake you enter the Timpanogos basin. There you have to scramble across a huge boulder field and some snow and then hike up a very steep path to the saddle. When we got to the saddle we rested for while before making a final push to the top. Dan taught us a breathing technique that really helped with the final push. He went on ahead and the rest of us slowly made our way to the summit. It was difficult, but honestly getting to the saddle was the harder portion of the hike. 

The summit was great. It is 11,752 ft above sea level. It feels like you are on top of the world. From the summit we could see Daybreak. We found some shade by the shack at the top and sat down and enjoyed some snacks and drank water. It was fairly crowded so after we ate we moved further along the summit to an area away from the groups. We took some pictures and hung out for a few minutes. This was a good opportunity to recover from the climb. It felt great on the summit. It was cool, but sunny with no wind. The conditions could not have been better. Right when we were about to leave we saw an mountain goat and a baby mountain goat climb up to the summit and begin walking in our direction. The rest of the group left, but I stayed put until they got fairly close. 

Going down felt great. After the monumental struggle I felt to get to the top, I felt so good coming down. It seemed like the other members of our group did as well. At least until we got to the Emerald lake. Up until this point it was fairly cool. It seemed as soon as we passed the lake it started to heat up. We chose one of the hottest, if not the hottest, weekend of the year to climb Timp. From the Emerald lake back to the trail head is 5 miles. These 5 miles quickly became a sufferfest. Dan ran ahead. The rest of us plodded along. By mile 13 we were done. Our water was gone (we should have packed one more liter each) and we were tired. We pushed on. Those last couple miles were two of our fastest miles. By the end we were hot, tired, and dehydrated. When we met up with Dan he asked us how we felt about stopping at the nearest gas station to get a cold beverage. We responded that we had already agreed that was a must. 

Hiking Timp this weekend was harder than it probably should have been. The end was truly miserable, but despite that I am so glad we hiked Timp. Being at the top felt so good. It is amazing to be up that high. The sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a difficult hike is satisfying. I am confident we will do this hike again one day. Next time I won't give blood the day before and we will either start even earlier, or go on a cooler weekend. Lesson learned.